SC Upholds Conviction Of Woman For Abetting Suicide Of Young Girl By Calling Her ‘Prostitute’ [Read Order]

‘The deceased was aged 26 years and being a young unmarried girl could have been upset over such verbal abuse heaped on her which led her to take a decision of committing suicide by setting herself ablaze.”

Words are to be more carefully used, lest it becomes a sword, which can destroy life of people around us. This case which came before the Supreme Court highlights this message.

The Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a lady who had abused a young girl by calling her a prostitute.

In the year 1998, a young girl committed suicide by setting herself on fire. The reason, as she stated in her dying declaration, are harsh and abusive words by another lady who called her a ‘prostitute’.

The trial court convicted the lady under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced her to undergo imprisonment for a period of three years. The high court upheld the conviction, however reducing the sentence to one-year imprisonment.

In the appeal preferred against these orders by the accused (Rani @ Sahayarani v. State of Tamil Nadu), the bench of Justice R Banumathi and Justice Vineet Saran, upholding the conviction, observed: “By a reading of the dying declaration annexed with the paper book as Annexure P-2, it is seen that the deceased has clearly stated about the abusive language used by the appellant against her, calling the deceased as a prostitute. The deceased was aged 26 years and being a young unmarried girl could have been upset over such verbal abuse heaped on her which led her to take a decision of committing suicide by setting herself ablaze.”

The bench also directed the accused to surrender to custody within four weeks to serve the remaining sentence.